General RLS History
Under the Railway Letter Service, a letter could be passed from train to train and railway to railway until it was finally collected at a station, or posted at a station local to the addressee. The original commercial advantage of the scheme rested on it being quicker and more reliable than the ordinary G.P.O. service. Anyone with an important document urgently required elsewhere (usually London) could consult Bradshaw and discover the next train from the local station offering a connection with a train to London (or wherever) and they could then hand in the letter at the local station, secure in the knowledge that the recipient (whom they informed by telephone or telegraph) could collect it on arrival by the specified train. The G.P.O./Royal Mail insisted that the normal postage be paid with Post Office stamps in addition to any railway letter fee and this condition continues.
In the late 19th century most British railway companies offered the service and many produced specific railway letter labels (stamps) as required by the agreement. As time went on most companies, including BR, resorted to the use of parcel labels, often with hand written values, or latterly rubber stamps.
Until 1974, BR set the Railway Letter Fee (a complex fare structure) and this was often changed without warning or notice. The basic fee was thus increased with immediate effect from 1s. 2d. to 1s. 3d. on 26 May 1969 – just two days before the reintroduction of the service on the FR. Fortunately the FR had taken the trouble to provide themselves with 1d, 6d, 1/- and also 1s. 2d. stamps. Extra 1d and a new 1s. 3d. stamps were soon ordered from the printers.
The heritage railways, tired of BR frequently upping the charge by a penny, BR had long since given up using priced stamps or labels, sought changes. A new agreement between the Post Office, the Association of Minor Railways, British Rail and Northern Ireland Railways became effective on 3 June 1974. The agreement allowed the minor railways (Association of Independent Railways Ltd) to fix a fee independently of BR. Under the agreement, BR also benefited since it was no longer required to accept letters from a minor railway without the payment of an additional fee. Changing commercial circumstances caused BR to withdraw completely from this nationwide service on 8 June 1984. The Ffestiniog Railway and other heritage railways continued to offer this service. At the insistence of the Royal Mail, a new agreement, a separate contract between the Royal Mail and each participating heritage railway company, was introduced on 18 December 1998.
Read more about this topic: Festiniog Railway Letter Service
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